Chips are champ for Tosh

Brisk chip business helped Toshiba report a net profit of 53.9 billion yen ($497 million) for the six months to 30 September.

The company made a loss of 48.5 billion ($447 million) for the same period a year earlier.

Chip business, at 72 billion yen, accounted for 68 per cent of Toshiba's overall operating profit for the half year. For the next six months, profit from semiconductors is expected to hit 65 billion yen, 35 per cent of the total operating profit.

The division responsible for PCs, peripherals, DVD players and mobile phones, made a profit of 17.5 billion yen, three per cent down on the same period last year. ®